Inhibitory control stimulation in elementary school children through digital games: A systematic mapping study.

The inhibitory control is a component of the executive functions that allows the individual to inhibit inadequate behaviors, resist distractions and select a relevant stimulus when executing activities. In the neuropsychology field, evidences of stimulation and improvement of the inhibitory control through school interventions is sought by using computerized software, such as digital games. These research studies constitute an important investigation area within the executive functions in ecological approaches. This paper presents a systematic mapping study on inhibitory control stimulation in elementary school children with the use of digital games. The investigation encompassed an automated database search with further backward snowballing procedure with the final selection for additional publications as research strategy. The automated search considered six databases: SCOPUS, PubMed, IEEE Explore Digital Library, ACM Library, Springer Link, and Scielo. The initial database search found 641 works published between 2014 and 2019. After the exclusion and inclusion criteria were considered, three publications related to digital games or mobile applications were found and selected for analysis, which focused on inhibitory control or correlated processes stimulation in school-based interventions with elementary school children. Results indicated that investigations within the field are incipient, pointing to an emerging research area.

Applied Computing to Education on Noncommunicable Chronic Diseases: A Systematic Mapping Study.

Background: The number of deaths from noncommunicable chronic diseases (NCDs) has increased worldwide. These deaths would be partly avoidable if prevention and follow-up measures were applied to reduce risk factors. Computing can help educate individuals, improving their knowledge about NCDs. This article presents a systematic mapping of studies that apply computing to education on NCDs. The results allow a general view of the literature and the identification of research opportunities. Materials and Methods: The methodology followed three steps: (1) definition of search databases from computer science and health sciences, (2) selection of keywords for search string composition, and (3) application of inclusion and exclusion criteria to filter the results. The survey occurred from January 2008 to April 2018. Results: The initial search resulted in 19,675 papers, of which 38 were selected after applying the filter criteria. The use of mobile computing stood out in 25 papers. The education modalities were self-management and educational content for diabetes (10 papers), asthma (1), cardiovascular disease (1) and chronic diseases (1), self-management of diabetes and games (1), educational content (15), games (6), personalized content (2), and virtual community (1). The percentage of papers on diabetes was 65%. Most solutions (55%) do not use data from individuals to provide information considering their health condition. In addition, 19 papers produced outcome measures by means of experiments. Conclusions: Mobile computing was the most used technology in the papers. In addition, self-management, educational content, and games were the most used mechanisms. A research opportunity consists of personalized assistance. In this sense, ubiquitous learning can provide a continuous and contextualized education.

Experiences with web 2.0 in school settings: a framework to foster educational practices based on a personal learning environment perspective / Experiências com a web 2.0 no contexto escolar: uma proposta para fomentar práticas educacionais baseadas na perspectiva de ambientes pessoais de aprendizagem

Abstract: Studies involving the use of digital technologies in educational settings, based on the concept of Personal Learning Environments (PLE), show the possibilities of enhancing educational processes through a pedagogical approach, which benefits from the affordances of technologies. We understand that a PLE is organized with tools, mechanisms, and activities that each student uses to read, produce and share. These actions are possible through different web 2.0 applications. This study aims to foster educational practices with technologies in the context of the classroom from the perspective of the PLE. The research, based on a qualitative approach, is organized into two phases. First, we propose a framework to assist teachers in the selection of web tools to foster educational practices based on PLE. Second, we present and analyze the results of a qualitative study, which involves the use of the proposed framework in educational practices conducted in the final years of elementary education in a private school in Brazil. Results point out that the proposed framework can be used to support the teachers in designing educational practices involving the use of digital technologies to promote the student's PLE.

Resumo: Estudos envolvendo o uso de tecnologias digitais em ambientes educacionais, com base no conceito de Ambientes Pessoais de Aprendizagem (PLE), mostram as possibilidades de aprimorar processos educacionais por meio de uma abordagem pedagógica que reconhece o benefício dessas tecnologias. Entendemos que um PLE é organizado a partir de ferramentas, mecanismos e atividades que cada aluno usa para ler, produzir e compartilhar. Essas ações são possíveis por meio de diferentes aplicações da web 2.0. Este estudo tem como objetivo apresentar uma proposta para fomentar práticas educacionais com tecnologias no contexto da sala de aula na perspectiva do PLE. A pesquisa, baseada em uma abordagem qualitativa, está organizada em duas fases. Em primeiro lugar, propomos um modelo para auxiliar os professores na seleção de aplicações web para promover práticas educacionais baseadas no PLE. Em segundo lugar, apresentamos e analisamos os resultados de um estudo qualitativo, que envolve o uso do modelo proposto em práticas educacionais realizadas nos últimos anos do ensino fundamental em uma escola particular no Brasil. Os resultados apontam que a proposta pode ser usada para apoiar os professores no desenvolvimento de práticas educativas envolvendo o uso de tecnologias digitais para promover o PLE do aluno.